010 Saving the American Chestnut; Lettuce History and Modern Improvement

This Talking Biotech Podcast features Dr. William Powell from SUNY, where he is co-Director of the American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project. The American Chestnut was a dominant forest tree in Appalachia until the late 1800’s when it was destroyed by disease. Dr. Powell’s project has used a transgenic approach to confer resistance to the disease, with the goal of repatriating the forest with this dominant tree species. Dr. Richard Michelmore from UC-Davis talks about lettuce history, genetics, genomics and breeding, with surprising information about lettuce that will make you never look at a head of lettuce the same way again.

2 Comments on 010 Saving the American Chestnut; Lettuce History and Modern Improvement

Thanks for your excellent scientific work which identified the virulence mechanism, discovered an important means to negate the virulence mechanism, and your dedication to employing it to restore the American chestnut to its historical prominence in the eastern forest community. Keep up your great work!

Communication About Innovation

The safe and powerful technologies of genetic engineering have had tremendous impacts in agriculture and medicine. However, future innovation and deployment of beneficial technologies are slowed by a lack of understanding. The point of this podcast is to help connect the public to current science and technology, and let scientists tell the stories of how science can help our farmers, industrialized world consumers, the environment, and the Developing World. The hope is that this resource can entertain and explain how new tools can improve food security, reduce poverty, and improve agricultural and medical practices.

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The content of the website and podcasts are the personal views of Kevin M. Folta and his guests, and may not represent the positions of the University of Florida or the Horticultural Sciences Department, including their employees, faculty and students.